Question: If I do something wrong and ask the Supreme to forgive me, how do I know whether He has forgiven me?

Sri Chinmoy: There are two ways you can know. If you never do that kind of thing again, rest assured that the Supreme has forgiven you, for He has given you the capacity not to do it again. If you have really accepted and received His Capacity, then He has already forgiven you. This is on the practical level. You have done something wrong and you don't want to do it again. You want forgiveness. That means that a higher Power has to come from the Supreme. This higher Power is something that will protect you and give you the capacity not to do the thing again. The Supreme has forgiven you; that is why you are not making mistakes any more.

Another way is to ask your spiritual Master if the Supreme has forgiven you. The Master will be able to tell you. He will be very frank. Or you can go deep within for an hour or half an hour, and then you will be able to tell. Don't allow any thought to enter your mind. Each time a thought comes, kill it; or feel that a fly has sat on you and you have chased it away. When another thought comes, chase it away, too. After a while, the thought-fly will feel that it is beneath its dignity to bother you, so the thought process will stop. After you see that no thought is coming, just ask the question. If the answer is "yes", then He has forgiven you. If it is "no", then He has not forgiven you. So you can do it that way or you can ask your Master. To repeat the first method, when you have stopped doing that very thing for good, then also you will know that He has forgiven you.